Chapter 86

**- Xenon -**

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Walkers became exceedingly ridiculous to deal with. I was on guard duty around the second field we were building ramparts for. It was a very good opportunity for me to work out and get some XP for my troubles as well. Everyone else was helping; I was the only guard as the situation did not require more. We have been constantly killing walkers around the prison, so the place was spot clean, except for the occasional walkers that came in. Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with big hordes just yet; at most there would be fifty in a wave, which was more than manageable. The bows and arrows we made for the group made it all too easy.

Andrea, Amy and Liz, a new recruit were on guard duty. The men were out here to increase our efficiency in dealing with us. I am not comfortable sitting here in the open, vulnerable for an attack that might happen without notice. We were sitting ducks, quite frankly. Sure, we could take cover behind the truck we used to move the timber around, but I don't like the idea of hiding behind a potentially explosive cover.

"Boss, are you there?"

"Yes, Liz, what is it?"

"We have an unidentified vehicle incoming, what should we do?" Liz was new and a nervous wreck from what I've noticed. But she asked to be on guard duty, and I don't mind giving her a chance to get better. From what I've seen, she can deal with walkers just fine, but maybe real people are still too much for her to deal with.

"Get your guns, everyone! We have a vehicle incoming." I commanded, as I took out my Rifle and started looking around. If it was an enemy attack, they would never come in head on like that, and I remember the Governor using this very same trick before to kill that group of soldiers. Guns were very close, so it took less than ten seconds for everyone to get ready for a fight.

"Take aim, and get ready to fire at a moment's notice." I said through the talkie.

"Ahm, Xenon, I can see Daryl on his bike. That's probably a new group he's bringing." Andrea said and I facepalmed at that. The new girl sure left a very important piece of information out of her report.

"False alarm, it's Daryl." They collectively breathed a sigh of relief at that. "Shane, Theodore, Jim, come with me. Let's go greet the new guys."

"Don't drop your guard, keep your guns ready to fire. We don't know if they're friendly yet." I said through the communication device again.

"Was it Liz the first time?" Shane asked with an annoyed tone, as we were walking back.

"Yeah."

"I told you it was a bad idea to give her the job." Shane sighed exasperatedly, as we've had this discussion before.

"She didn't do anything wrong, really." I shrugged. "I would've called her incompetent if she didn't say anything instead. She just reported what she could see. Just give her a chance, will you?"

"I just don't see the need to appoint her as a guard. We've got enough men for that." Shane remarked.

"Men we could use otherwise." I answered. "I don't need them sitting on a tower until they laze off. The women know they'll be judged harshly, so they're giving it their all. They won't doze off on duty, and will be constantly on alert, afraid to screw up."

"Huh." Shane smiled at my words. "When you think of it that way... I think you're on to something."

"Right." I nodded. "And it's only temporary. I don't think we'll have to risk it again if our new recruits prove to be competent. I'll reassign some people to guard duty. Liz will still be there though, so just make your peace with it. We shouldn't force people to do jobs they don't want to do when we can afford to." Shane was not very happy with my appointment of neither Liz, Andrea or Amy for that matter. He doesn't like the idea of putting women in danger, believing they are not really good material for the job. And it has nothing to do with their gender, from what I can tell. They are indeed unsuitable for the job, for the most part. They've barely handled a weapon in their life, contrary to many experienced men with us. But they are far more unsuitable for the building effort, so... my hands are tied here.

Two SUVs and a van were following behind Daryl, so that told us about the size of the group he was bringing. The more the merrier as a far as I'm concerned.

They parked the car outside as Daryl told them, and two men got out of the SUV at the front, which I assume are the spokespeople of that group. They were watching us with interest and the group of people behind holding their guns to their chest with fear. That's about twenty automatic rifles that could potential shoot at them. We'd usually have a team on the inside, but we are operating under special circumstances, so we'll have to improvise.

One of the men was a tall muscular guy, standing at 1m87, with tattoos all over his arms, giving him a rather intimidating look. He did a very good job at hiding his fear, as he glared at everything on sight. The other man was about ten centimeters shorter, with bushy beard full of gray strands, looking at least forty of age.

"Daryl." I nodded at him, and he returned the gesture.

"I found these guys on my way out, thought they'd make nice additions to the group." He said nonchalantly.

"How many are there?" I frowned in disapproval, looking at the vehicles, sizing them up, and turning on my [Domineering Presence] at the same time. I did not want them to think it would be easy to join us, otherwise they might get lazy. Better make it clear that we are reluctant to take them in, and that they need to earn their place among us.

"Fourteen." My frown deepened.

"That's a lot of people, Daryl." Shane added.

"We'll pull our weight, we promise." The bearded man said before his friend who was glaring daggers at us exploded at us. "We just need somewhere safe to stay. You don't even have to share your food with us, we'll look for our own food if we have to." I looked at him for a while, an uncomfortable silence settling between us.

"Get the cars in first." I finally said, after giving it some thought. "We'll talk after." I didn't have time to give them the tour of the prison or anything, as we'd like to finish our second field today if possible. We've been working on it for three days now.

"Tell everyone to get out of the cars. Leave all your weapons for now. You won't be needing them."

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?!" The bigger man was outraged, as he looked about ready to jump at me.

"You got a problem with that?" Shane's grip on his weapon tightened, and even the people far away in the field seemed ready to fire at any moment.

"We've inviting you to our homes." I gave him an unimpressed look. "If you don't like our rules, feel free to leave."

"It's alright." The bearded man tapped his friend's shoulder in a placating manner while giving him a look. "We're not looking for any trouble. We have your word nothing's gonna happen to us, right?"

"Yes." I nodded, though I was facepalming internally. As if someone who wished you harm would answer no to that question. Be glad you're not dealing with Terminus. I took a good look at everyone in their group. Six men, five women, two kids, one teenager. They could be useful.

"Fourteen is a lot of mouths to feed." I said seriously. "You said you're willing to pull your weight, right?"

"Yes. We can help you with whatever it is you need us to do. We've got six capable men with us that won't shy away from hard work." The bearded man confirmed again.

"This is the part where we usually introduce ourselves, but as you can see, we're kind of busy at the moment, so we'll do that later. We're building a farm field outside, we're almost done, actually, so we can use all the help we can get."

"You can count us in." The others behind him nodded in approval.

"Daryl, take those who can't work inside to Carol and the others. Get them settled in." He nodded in agreement, while the women talked to their partners, who approved. "The others follow me."